Motorcars International

I have been here twice now for work on my Saab and I couldn’t have been more pleased with my visits. Tony quoted me a fair price on both repairs I needed and was up front and HONEST about what they needed to do and what it would cost. They even credited my rental car because it took another night to finish the job. I would highly recommend taking in your car, especially if you have a Saab. You have made me an official customer. Thanks!

Tony and Walter are two of the most honest businessmen I have ever met. They serviced my 10 year old BMW and treated it like it was theirs. When I got a new car and had to deal with the dealership hacks I realized just how honest and efficient the team at Motorcars is. Now that my car is out of warranty I am back with Motorcars and they have it running better than it ever has. These guys are true skilled mechanics and know how to diagnose and fix problems that the dealership can’t or won’t. They have such fair prices, a fraction of what the dealer charges and they always say thank you with a smile. You can see from my other posts I am a picky consumer and don’t offer praise without it being earned.

I, too, am disappointed with Tony and Walter. I have been a client, bringing an import car and import SUV since 2004 when I moved into the neighborhood.
Ha!
Well, after these 11 years and multiple referrals, Tony finally «FIRED» me as a Customer on 7/​22, last week. My car stalled at a doctor’s appt, but cranked before AAA arrived on Powers Ferry. I figured, my tow was within 10 miles, I’ll have it dropped off at MotorCars for a quick check. Called «Tony» because «he’s the only Talker» in the «Partnership» and only Tony can do the «write-​up» per Walter.
Now, I’ve been watching this «in Live View» for 11 years, during which I suffered a disability. Walter will drive you to your destination within 3 – 5 miles in his New BMW or the old white van. Walter wears slacks and a Polo, while Tony wears «cargo shorts, sneakers & a polo». Tony drives the 2000 Honda Civic. Per Tony, Walter writes the check to «Pay his Salary»…Lol.
So, after our «may I run my car by to check, even though it’s cranked and running» conversation with Tony; I have a great man «Paul» of «All Georgia Towing» flatbed my auto to International MotorCars. Tony and Walter exchange pleasantries and my «life savings» of coins fall in the floorboard. Tony chuckles as I swipe it up quickly. He asks Walter to run me home, about 3 mi; I was going to let them «check it».
I asked Walter on the way home, did he have a round about fee? Any guesses on issue? Please consider the fact that I’m on limited income and I’ve been coming there for 11 yrs and given plenty of referrals there. He chuckles and says «I don’t handle any of that, Tony will need to call you». I TRUST and go inside.
Later, Tony calls with an estimate of $ 350 for a Crank Shaft Sensor that may NOT be the real «Cure»; but I could just pick it up since it did crank for him, as well. I called later, Walter answers and I tell him «I’ll just come get it and park it @ home». When I arrive, Tony has had to leave early and I ask Walter if he «needs a payment or card». Ok, just know… I’ve seen this PONY Show for 11 (eleven) years… so I chuckle to myself. «Oh, no… Tony does all the write-​ups, pricing… he’ll have to talk to you tomorrow.» (I chuckle to myself…“O.K.“
Tony calls me at approx. 3pm the next day to get «my Card number» for the $ 102.00 Diagnostic Fee. I joke around with him for a moment, tried to get a flat $ 100 fee, a «market friendly» $ 99.95 fee, a $ 50 fee since I have been a longtime customer and made good referrals. No Can Do! «What does your card start with, a 3 (Amex); a 4 (Visa) or a 5 (MasterCard)?» I worked in customer service for years… I know which credit card company uses 3 or 4 or 5! HaHa!
Finally, I asked Tony did my receipt reflect that my car was running when towed in and did it have the estimated Crank Shaft Sensor at $ 350 on it. I recited my Mom’s Amex for him and ask him to mail detailed receipt for $ 102.00 please. He said he was printing the mailing label for the envelope as we said our «Goodbyes».
Thanks International MotorCars, Tony & Walter… it’s been one Helluva Ride!
And, Paul at «All Georgia Towing»…“You Are One Very Special Warm God-​given Spirit”. Thanks for the opportunity to meet such a Good Man.

New to the area and needed a new repair shop. Found them based on excellent reviews on Kudzu and Unilocal.They completed a synthetic oil blend oil change & replaced windshield wipers on my car. Service was professional, punctual and most of all an excellent price. The same services were done by a previous in-​town repair shop for $ 70 more. I needed to work while I waited and they provide you with a complimentary card to get coffee at Rev coffee shop across the street. I was able to work in a comfortable environment using their WIFI. Highly recommend using these guys for fair prices and an honest diagnosis. Glad I found them!

I am thankful that these guys are in my neck of the woods in Atlanta. They did maintenance work on my Honda 93 until I sold it at 253K miles. Today I just dropped in because the «Maintenance Req» light was on my 2006 Avalon to ask if they could «pull the code» on it. Tony told me that it just meant it was time for an oil change, but it was not reset when we took it somewhere else for an oil change. He printed off the directions for DIY resetting the light indicator, so that no matter where I go for an oil change, I could reset the light myself. He didn’t charge me for his time, and he didn’t have to take the time to answer my questions. He could have used the light as an excuse to do other work. I really do trust these guys.

First class prices, second class service
I took my mini in for repair and scheduled service.
— I had to tell them where to buy the right tools
— They broke the IPOD Adapter (cut cable)
— The oil change indicator came on 100 miles later
— Cost was not much cheaper than the dealer
— Dishonest (added after MI response)
Having good manners at the counter doesn’t replace competency.
I see more details are needed after the reply from Motorcars International.
1. They were first informed of the IPOD cable problem when I picked up the car 6 months ago. I said, «what happened to the cable?» The response, «oh». Now I find an ad on Facebook on my homepage and I’m reminded of that and other problems with their service. I posted my accurate review. Interesting they never attempted to resolve this issue until I review them here. Also interesting they lie about being notified. Cable can’t be replaced. I have to buy a new adapter on eBay (it plugs into the cd changer connector in the trunk) note: my 8 & 12 year old sons manage to get in and out of the front and back seats without mangling anything. The «mini specialists» can’t manage the same after just one joy/​test ride.
2. Another lie. This was the second time I took my car in. The first time was for unusual tire wear diagnosis and repair. Two mechanics looked at it on the lift in the garage. They had no clue. I took it to Pep boys where they apparently have a super-​guru-​mini mechanic that put it on the lift then told me I have a bushing that wasn’t allowing something to rotate. It may need to be replaced but also it might break free with enough force. I told him to do it, it worked’ no charge.
3. Another lie. I told them I purchased the car and had no service records. It had over 60k miles and I need the factory services done. They suggested a couple factory service options to which I replied, «Assume no services have been done, perform all services that would have taken place.“m they said that service xxx was the more complete one and they would do that. Ok.
Now, tell me what car has no scheduled oil change in the first 60,000 miles?
4. Price. Yes, I agreed to the price when I thought they would actually perform the service competently. My note only serves as a warning. Near dealer prices, incompetent service. If that works for you, go for it.
5. «Performance parts» and tools. The performance part was a pulley. It is «performance» because it is a smaller diameter? Ok. Super duper complex because it is 10% smaller. I asked them to change it since they were already replacing the belt and another pulley. Apparently the balancer pulley that failed wasn’t as super duper complex as the simple solid pulley.
So they have the car and pulley. The pulley has the name of the place it came from. (Across town). So now the fancy mechanic needs to get a tool to pull the old pulley off. They don’t have one. They don’t know where to get one. They can’t read the website address on the package or the name on the pulley to look it up. I need to do it for them. You can decide if this is competence or not.
Take this for what it Is. A review of what happened to me on my visitS to Motorcars International.

I am unfortunately in the market for a used car due to an accident with my prior car. I found a used VW I was interested in and needed to take it to a mechanic for a pre-​sale inspection. I found Motorcars through Unilocal and saw that they had experience with VW’s.
The scheduling experience was easy and pleasant and I was able to bring it in the next day after I called. When I arrived, there was no wait and no other customers in the waiting room. The facility is very clean and well maintained, with a nice waiting area. In addition, Motorcars is kind enough to provide a coupon for a free coffee at Rev, which is a really great coffee house just across the street. The presence of this coffee house in the vicinity is by itself a reason to consider using Motorcars.
The inspection work was finished within two hours, as promised. What I liked most about this facility is that the gentleman who went over the results with me really took a lot of time to explain everything and did not talk down to me. There were a few issues in the inspection and he went into depth explaining the potential repair consequences of these issues. I felt I was dealing with an honest and reputable firm.
I am giving four stars rather than five just because I have no actual experience with this place doing repair and maintenance work. However, I would definitely consider them for repair work on my vehicle should I decide to buy one of the makes they specialize in.

Review 2 of 2…
Well, after my wife and I taking off work to make time to pick up my car, being called and told Trixie is still not quite ready yet, and having to take a second day (me, not my wife)(half day) off work, and having to walk/​bus/​train/​bus/​walk 4 hours to the shop, she was finally ready. The price for repairs was still high, but Tony did me a solid. BTW, the reason Trixie wasn’t ready when Motorcars said she would be, was that they hadn’t had the chance to test drive her themselves to ensure she runs well. And so, I am certainly not upset I had to wait an extra day for more piece of mind. Trixie came home shifting like butter. So smooth was the clutch that I found myself having to adjust my shifting style a bit, as I was really revving her mid-​shift. That evening, however, I went to drive to the gym a couple of miles away and realized her lights were no longer adjusting upwards. Which made it very difficult to see in front of me at night. Finally got back home and decided to google my new issue. After learning that I could adjust them myself with the turn of a screw, I decided to do just that. Although, it seems my lights no longer do that cool auto-​leveling movement, I can live with my own temporary adjustment until I can get the sensors checked. As I can’t currently afford another schlepp to
see Motorcars. I would give them five stars if it weren’t for the high price and the fact I came home from the shop with another issue (though minor). All in all, they will see my business again.

Great service at a fraction of the price the dealership costs. Makes great recommendations and lets you know what you need and don’t. I didnt feek that they tried to oversell me like some mechanics do. Did a great job explaining my options. I would definitely recommend.

Being somewhat new to Atlanta and nearing time for my 75,000 mile tune up I begin searching the web for places to take my SAAB for a check up. Motorcars International came highly recommended from other Unilocalers, and I can see why.
First off the price was ¹⁄₃^rd of what the local dealer would charge me. Add to the fact that the level of customer service that I experience far out weighed that of any dealership that I have ever been to even made the money saved an even better value.
Motorcars do not have loaner cars, but they do have a discount program worked out with the local Enterprise Rental Car company. Even paying for the rental car (which is free if your bill is more than $ 300 — don’t quote me on that part… my bill wasnt that much!) saved me money!
All in all, this was a great car service and well worth the trip to Smyrna.

I will not be coming back here ever again. Simple.
I’ve been here three times previous, twice for an alignment, once to diagnose a leak in the A/​C system. These times I had a good experience and got the service I expected. I even praised Motorcars to a few locals and recommended them for anything they needed, and got good feedback about it later. So what went wrong?
About two months ago I went in for another alignment. After 45 minutes I was told they weren’t going to be able to do it as one of the eccentric bolts in the rear was damaged. I then got a lesson on how eccentric bolts work (which was completely unnecessary, I’m not a moron) and it was suggested that not only do I buy a new replacement, I go ahead and replace all six of them on the car since one had already failed. I didn’t like this for two reasons, one, these bolts don’t easily fail, they’re never touched unless the car is being aligned, and two, since owning the car Motorcars has been the only place it’s been so damage to the bolt could easily be attributed to them. I didn’t lay blame anywhere though, said ok and took my car, a little pissed at the tone I got from the guy behind the counter. Let me emphasize here, I’m sure they get a LOT of people who don’t understand the first thing about a car and need to be clear, concise, even a little snooty about it, but I am a mechanic myself and have done more than 20 years worth of work on all sorts of cars, so there’s really never been a need to make me feel less knowledgeable or try to ‘dumb down’ things for me to understand. The counter guy has always been really good at trying that and that left a bad taste in my mouth which made me put off the work for a while. I’m sure he doesn’t know my skills or experience, but there’s really no need to be a pompous ass to me either because he assumes I’m an idiot. I’d do the alignment myself if I had access to a rack. I called the dealer afterward just for the hell of it knowing the price would be outrageous (it was), then took a day trip to the pull-​it yard and got a handful of good, used bolts for $ 2 and change. I replaced the damaged one and rescheduled the alignment, still a little irritated by the belittling I had received.
On to this week, where I took it back in. Another 45 minutes later, and I’m told «Your car cannot be aligned». Interesting. I began to inquire why but was met with immediate defense, the counter guy seemed already prepared to give me another good «You’re an idiot, that’s why» lesson. A backstory here, my car is lowered so it will never be able to be put back to OE alignment specs. I know this. Everyone knows this. It’s common sense. I never asked for it to be put back to OE specs either, I just wanted the toe brought back in and some of the camber dialed out. To assume it could be put back OE really would make me an idiot, and I’m not one. But the first response was of course «Your car is lowered, blah, blah». But they’ve aligned it before, so what’s changed? And this brought out the slew of excuses, from their machine has received a new software update and can’t read/​make the right adjustments to my car is no longer straight. What? I don’t remember wrapping it around a tree anytime recently. I was told the crossmember could have shifted, the subframe might be bent, etc., etc., more and more BS than I could have imagined. As soon as I tried to inquire further I was berated yet again, leaving me no choice but to just leave. Seriously, there’s a polite way of telling someone to go to hell, and this wasn’t it. I left. I then realized after driving off they had at least made some attempts, as the car drove even worse than when I brought it in. Nice.
I called Gran Turismo East, told them my story in cliffnotes, to which they giggled a little. I took it in at 1pm, and at 1:45pm I had a car that was aligned just like I had asked. Was the camber back at 0 degrees? Of course not. Few cars ever are. Ever been behind a 350Z at a stoplight? Those cars are manufactured with some negative camber, you don’t see them buying tires every 5000 miles. But all the settings were well within the nominal ranges, everything looked considerably better from just eyeballing it, and more to the point it tracks straight, doesn’t pull, makes no weird noises, and feels 100 times better. That’s all I wanted.
Can’t be aligned huh? I’ve already told everyone I had previously sent to Motorcars not to go back. I may not be able to make a dent in their business, but I’ll feel a lot better knowing I’m not supporting them anymore. There was just no need for any of this to ever take place. A simple, «sorry, we don’t align lowered cars» would have been all I needed to hear six years ago. I would have left understanding their decision and not feeling like I was duped, insulted, lied to, and just all around made to feel stupid. Makes me wonder how they aligned it before, or even if they did anything at all.

The owner of this place, Tony, drives an old Honda himself. And he sure knows a lot about Hondas. If I need to get my Honda repaired, I take it to his shop and trust he will do great work on it. They do, and they also get the job done fast.
They don’t just work on Hondas, they specialized in other European cars such as VW, Saab, Audi, BMW, and others. If I had one of those cars, I’ll probably bring it to Motorcars International as well.
Their prices are competitive. Sometimes they might cost higher than other, more general mechanics. That’s not a big deal to me. I would rather pay a little extra for quality.
They seem cheaper than the dealerships, and they won’t try to upsell me on everything. If they find other potential problems in your car, they don’t pressure you to fix them unless it looks urgent. I remember them finding a small leak in my car, and they told me if it hasn’t caused me any trouble so far, they said I can probably not worry about it for a while. If it was the dealership, they would keep my car hostage until I agreed to have that fixed.
As other reviewers as mentioned. They seem honest. And from visiting their office many times, I do like their work philosophy. They seem to have high integrity and are proud of their work.
The only reason I’m giving them 4 stars and not 5 is that the owner has quite the temper. He reminds me of an IT support guy dealing with stupid computer users. If you ask him a dumb question he gets angry and annoyed at you. Otherwise, he’s quite pleasant if you don’t antagonize him. Just give him your car, describe the problem, pay, and stay out of his way.

As it turned out, Motorcars International had issues with fixing the highly-​specific, unexpectedly complex problem I had with the motor of my soft-​top car. After days of labor to remove the entire top frame assembly and get inside the electric motor, they realized it would cost more than they expected to fix, and the owner Tony called me back up to say they thought a dealer would actually be able to do it more cheaply than they could. They put everything back together, apologized for my inconvenience, and recommended a couple dealers I could try.
They didn’t charge me a cent.

I went here after GLOBAL IMPORTS tried to swindle me. these guys were honest, did a thorough inspection and put the damage in terms i could understand. my alignment on the front end was messed up. «Frozen» and very difficult to get unfrozen. so they set me up in a rental and off i was. they expected it to be done by the end of the day around 530 so i returned the rental and came for my car. it was admittedly, pretty badly off alignment. turns out they couldn’t fix it that day and since i had prematurely returned the rental, one of the mechanics (who is also owner to Boo, the shop’s awesome black lab doggie) drove me from Smyrna to the virginia highlands. Let me just say, these guys are on it. they know their BMWs (which includes my Mini), they’re honest and flexible. I’ve recently taken it back to check up on a little oil seepage and a noise it’s making. They checked it out, drove it around a little bit with me in the car, and then talked to me about what they would do if it was their car. none of this bull «shopping lists» of work you need done on your car that other places have given me. I’m grateful to have a resource like these guys. hurray Motorcars Intl!!!

These guys are the most honest, dependable mechanics on my block. Literally. We took my Saab there for brakes and a general tune up, thinking we needed new tires, etc. OK, so it was $ 1600 in repairs, but I wouldn’t hesitate to take my car back again. They replaced our brakes with high quality ceramics, showed us the old broke ass parts, and were refreshingly honest when then told us that we really didn’t need new tires right now, because they are still in good shape.
They were quick, communicative, and honest. It was a fair price for the work they did to my car, and it runs great! I’ll take my car here for something as simple as an oil change from now on!

When your car warranty runs out and the dealer starts fleecing you, this is THE place to go!!! They are professional, laid back, kind, and know what they are doing. They’ve worked on two cars of mine and I always have total confidence they’re going to do what needs to be done and not oversell me just because they can. No tricks here, just the real deal. You will not be disappointed.